The American Taliban strikes again...read it for yourself

[frankfrank]

Another group of people who would very likely kill all of us, if it was legal to do so...no further explanation needed for the below. Behold the total hatred!! This comes from a "blue" state, no less. I guess that it's another of those wacko groups that feel that hatred is a Christian velue.

Press Release
Americans for Truth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 24, 2006

CONTACT: Matt Barber at 847-867-7554 / tiaorg@comcast.net or Peter LaBarbera at 630-546-4439 / americansfortruth@comcast.net to arrange an interview.

AFT: ARE WAL-MART VALUES FAMILY VALUES?

Naperville, Illinois— Is Wal-Mart passing the wrong kind of ‘values’ on to its customers? It’s no secret that Walmart Stores, Inc. has been under vicious attack in recent months by leftists and union activists due to its unwavering support of right-to-work policies, and its refusal to allow unions to organize in its stores. But now it seems Wal-Mart is additionally hell-bent on alienating its heretofore greatest and most vocal supporters: Conservatives, Christians, and Traditionalists.

Matt Barber, Corporate Outreach Director for Americans for Truth, expressed his disappointment with Wal-Mart today for further capitulating to the powerful homosexual lobby by recently partnering with the “National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce;” an extremely influential homosexual organization steadfastly devoted to furthering the ‘gay’ agenda within corporate America.

“It’s a real shame, and I think people who value traditional marriage and the Biblical model of human sexuality should sit up and take notice of Wal-Mart’s recent support of radical pro-homosexual/anti-Christian groups and policies that seek to destroy the time-honored institutions of marriage and family, and further aim to silence proponents of traditional family values,” said Barber.

While understandably flying under the radar, Wal-Mart’s British subsidiary recently introduced a “gay wedding” line of products, and Wal-Mart corporate has inexplicably re-defined “family” in its corporate policies to include sexual partners of the same gender. It has also added employees who choose to engage in dangerous homosexual behaviors to its anti-discrimination policies. “Of course nobody advocates harassment of anyone in the workplace for anything,” said Barber; “but my concern is that Wal-Mart’s recent company policy officially endorsing and promoting the homosexual lifestyle, now discriminates against employees who happen to believe, as Judeo/Christian tradition holds, that marriage is between one man and one woman, and that homosexual behavior is both immoral and unhealthy. What if Wal-Mart decided to hold a “gay-day” like other companies have done? Would pro-family employees then be fired for ‘discrimination’ if they refused to participate because it violated their sincerely held religious beliefs?”

Peter LaBarbera, Founder and President of Americans for Truth added: “Wal-Mart has always been a favorite of God fearing Middle American customers who hold traditional family values. I’m very surprised that Wal-Mart would now bite the hand that feeds it and thumb its nose at those very customers. It seems to me that Wal-Mart should reconsider its unsavory alliance with these extremist homosexual activists in today’s heated and polarizing culture war. It risks entirely alienating the vast majority of its customer base. Perhaps this great corporation with such an impressive history should play Switzerland in the culture war, return to a position of neutrality, and get back to doing what it has always done best – selling high quality products at the lowest prices available.”

Americans for Truth indicated its intent to further investigate and report on Wal-Mart’s recent endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle, and to request a meeting with Wal-Mart officials to ensure that its family-values employees will not be discriminated against in light of Wal-Mart’s growing support of the anti-family, anti-Christian homosexual lobby. “We’ll talk with Wal-Mart,” said Barber; “and then determine whether it’s necessary for us to further educate Wal-Mart customers – and employees – on a wide spread basis about the new and not-so-impressive left-wing values now offered to Wal-Mart shoppers.”

Americans for Truth (www.americansfortruth.com) is the only National pro-family organization solely dedicated to exposing and opposing the anti-Christian homosexual, bisexual and transgendered agenda. For more information, e-mail americansfortruth@comcast.net.
AFT, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Phone: 630-546-4439.

 

[looseliam]

And the Bible belt keeps creeping higher.

So, is gay-friendly Charmin toilet paper worse than god-fearing Charmin?

 

[jwest]

ha.. i was in naperville only a few days ago, and odd enough, i went to wal-mart...

i saw this report earlier on in the day, and its so stupid..

 

[tbonez]

While understandably flying under the radar, Wal-Mart’s British subsidiary recently introduced a “gay wedding” line of products,...

For me this was the most disturbing part of the article.

What KIND of wedding? An Elvis impersonator as the minister and Britney Spears as the maid of honour? Wedding gifts from Wal-Mart?? Plastic ashtrays and particle-board coffee-tables? Bulk toilet paper and a polyester Little Mermaid duvet? I'd elope first!

OK, you can call me a snob now. I fully admit that I just feel dirty walking into the place, so shoot me! Just so one favour and don't buy the ammo at Wal-Mart...Let me die with a shred of dignity.

 

[CaptainJohn]

So, is gay-friendly Charmin toilet paper worse than god-fearing Charmin?

 

[tbonez]

So, is gay-friendly Charmin toilet paper worse than god-fearing Charmin?

Other way 'round actually... The gay-friendly stuff is much softer.

Fundamentalist bum-wad is abrasive and rubs me the wrong way.

Sorry, couldn't help myself!

 

[SilverRRCloud]

No corp., let alone one of the Wal-Mart's magnitude does absolutely anything without having previously considered the impact their action may have on their balance sheet.

My educated guess here would be that with their new expansion plans in place, and with their 'new revenue' flowing in from more 'gay friendly states', they figured out, if they did not go after the big gay $$$ actively, for fear of alienating their old 'bible belt customer base', they'd be on the loosing side of the equation. Even Wal-Mart knows that gay dudes have a significantly greater amount of 'play cash' in their pockets than their str8 peers. Whoever chooses to disregard this fact and thus, fails to tap into that 'gay dollar' source of revenue is really doing that at his own loss.

One of the very few pleasures of being affluent is your relative independence. If a market player is not 'your lifestyle friendly', does not want your $$$, gee, you move on to the next one. Wal-Mart must have figured out that their 'ultra conservative, bible belt base with their traditional values' mostly has no other and certainly no better market choice than Wal-Mart. Sure, they'll most like scream and kick for a while but will, just as the consumers always do, vote with their feet and will do, what's best and least expensive for them: Go to Wal-Mart.

In other words, the potential losses are going to be minimal, whereas the potential gains are going to be substantial. Facing such projections, no corp. of any kind has got any choice whatsoever.

My topline here: Corporations are here to make corporate profits. Moral values do not enter that equation. Ever. Moral values can be a marketing tool. But that's all there is to it. What money wants is simply: more money.

SC

 

[Sausy]

You've got to be anal if Wal Mart is the god guy in this.It's great though that WalMart is courting the gay dollar despite the pressure.We'll see if profit and community good will can be subjugated to pressure and bigotry.Though Wal Mart's labor policies cause me not to root too hard for them,I can bide those fundies even less.

 

[Brad]

All poor people who are over worked amd underpaid go to wal-Mart. I do it despite my leftism I am their bitch. What kind of corporation courts bitches with no money? Dumb ass Wal-Mart that's who! It served them well untill their government pulled the rug out from under poor folk. If I made a decent salery as a teacher or anything else, I sure as hell wouldn't be caught dead in there.

 

[tbonez]

You've got to be anal if Wal Mart is the (edit)> good <(edit)guy in this.It's great though that WalMart is courting the gay dollar despite the pressure.We'll see if profit and community good will can be subjugated to pressure and bigotry.

"BINGO", as your average Wal-Mart shopper dreams of saying.

Look at Wal-Mart's target customers, basically people who can't afford to shop anywhere else. Even Wal-Mart acknowledges that most of it's 'customer base' has near zero discretionary spending. When the price of gas or groceries goes up, Wal-mart's sales plummet. You don't see the same trend at A & F or Macy's.

Wal-Mart has done their homework. Right-wing/religious fundamentalist boycotts are a sad joke. They fail miserably and often result in a back-lash from the 'left'. If you are a good fundamentalist with 8 kids and a job driving the church bus, where else are you going to shop? LL Bean? Don't think so!

Wal-Mart (where Satan shops!) realizes that they need to attract more customers with greater discretionary spending. They have said so in many corporate news releases. That would be you and me my little homo shop-a-holics.

I'm still not interested in shirts made of starch or furniture held together with spit and mac-tac.

 

[luminum]

Americans for Truth (www.americansfortruth.com) is the only National pro-family organization solely dedicated to exposing and opposing the anti-Christian homosexual, bisexual and transgendered agenda.

So is that to say that they are ina lliance with the pro-Christian homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered agenda?

 

[slobone]

"BINGO", as your average Wal-Mart shopper dreams of saying.

Gee, you wouldn't be a snob by any chance, would you?

Look at Wal-Mart's target customers, basically people who can't afford to shop anywhere else.

Yeah I guess they stole all those SUV's I see in the parking lot.

Even Wal-Mart acknowledges that most of it's 'customer base' has near zero discretionary spending. When the price of gas or groceries goes up, Wal-mart's sales plummet.

Wal-Mart is the world's biggest grocery chain, so what you're saying makes no sense. Lower prices + equal quality = everybody with any sense shops there.

You don't see the same trend at A & F or Macy's.

They don't lower their prices when the economy is doing badly? Sure they do, only they call it a "sale".

Wal-Mart has done their homework. Right-wing/religious fundamentalist boycotts are a sad joke. They fail miserably and often result in a back-lash from the 'left'. If you are a good fundamentalist with 8 kids and a job driving the church bus, where else are you going to shop? LL Bean? Don't think so!

Wal-Mart (where Satan shops!) realizes that they need to attract more customers with greater discretionary spending. They have said so in many corporate news releases. That would be you and me my little homo shop-a-holics.

Wait, first you criticize them for catering to poor people, now you criticize them for trying to bring in upscale customers as well? Guess they can't do anything right.

I'm still not interested in shirts made of starch or furniture held together with spit and mac-tac.

Granted they don't carry the same prestige labels as Neiman-Marcus, where you presumably shop. And I do admit that their furniture and clothing is not the greatest (which is more a design issue than a quality issue). But for nearly all other categories of goods, they carry the same major brands you see everywhere, at much lower prices.

Not to mention that WalMart has forced everybody else to lower their prices and/or rethink their marketing strategy. Target wouldn't exist if it weren't for WalMart. And you'd be paying a hell of a lot more at Sears/K-Mart and JCPenney.

Dat's enough for now

 

[Soilwork]

Peter LaBarbera, Founder and President of Americans for Truth added: “Perhaps this great corporation with such an impressive history should ... get back to doing what it has always done best – selling high quality products at the lowest prices available.”

ok... I gotta ask.. at what point did Walmart "Sell high quality products"?

I mean.. have you BEEN to Walmart? They sell crap, knock-offs and unhealthy food.

I love how they have no problem with Walmart abusing their staff but NO WAY are they going to stop the abused staff from saying "Faggot" on their lunch break.

what idiots.

oh, and...

Peter LaBarbera, Founder and President of Americans for Truth added: “Wal-Mart has always been a favorite of God fearing Middle American customers who hold traditional family values.”

Translation... Christians are either poor or just cheap and don't care who gets abused in the workplace so long as the faggots can get fired for being faggots.

 

[slobone]

I mean.. have you BEEN to Walmart? They sell crap, knock-offs and unhealthy food.

I respectfully disagree. They sell the same brands as everybody else. (Along with some great store-brand products that are indistinguishable from major brands at half the price).

And the grocery department sells both healthy and unhealthy food, just like everybody else. I don't even understand what you're trying to say here. Have YOU been there?

Geez, am I going to have to defend this giant corporation on this board every 5 minutes? I'm exhausted already.

I live in a very small town in the Midwest. I'm not even going to try to describe what a pain it was trying to shop here before WalMart opened up. And over the years the quality of their merchandise has steadily gone up, while the prices are still the lowest in town.

Plus the stores are clean, well-organized, well-stocked, and the employees are friendly and helpful almost without exception. It's a pleasure to shop there.

 

[Soilwork]

I'd never buy anything at a Walmart.. I'd sooner starve.

What healthy food do they sell? I just saw pop and chips and frozen pizza and Kraft Peanut butter.

not that it matters. If I lived in a small town and that was the only place to shop.. I'd have bigger problems, I think.

 

[slobone]

I'd never buy anything at a Walmart.. I'd sooner starve.

What healthy food do they sell? I just saw pop and chips and frozen pizza and Kraft Peanut butter.

not that it matters. If I lived in a small town and that was the only place to shop.. I'd have bigger problems, I think.

Well Soilwork honey, I've no doubt you do have bigger problems!

I was referring to the WalMart supercenters, which have fully stocked grocery departments. Produce, dairy, meats, all the same stuff everybody else carries. And they're going to go into organic now in a big way. Unless you buy all your food at the farmer's market it's hard to see how you could do better.

But yeah, the food departments in the smaller stores are pretty limited. It's mostly stuff that doesn't need to be refrigerated. I guess it depends on whether you consider Little Debbie snack cakes healthy or not... <urp>. Oh, excuse me.

 

[NedNickerson]

I live in a very small town in the Midwest. I'm not even going to try to describe what a pain it was trying to shop here before WalMart opened up. And over the years the quality of their merchandise has steadily gone up, while the prices are still the lowest in town.

Plus the stores are clean, well-organized, well-stocked, and the employees are friendly and helpful almost without exception. It's a pleasure to shop there.

I agree. I live in a small town, too, and a Walmart Superstore is where I do most of my shopping. The Superstore has a grocery department with bakery, delicatessen, meat and sea food department, etc. And like slobone says, the shelves are always well-stocked and the staff is always always helpful.

There are no other major department stores in my area where I can shop at without driving another 10 miles or so, and then, I'd have to pay more for the same name brand merchandise that Walmart already has. And with gas prices the way they are, what would be the point of driving an additional 20 miles (10 miles both ways)?

For those of us who don't earn "mega-bucks," Walmart is the place to shop, like it or not... As it is, I'm happy with it... If Walmart doesn't have it, then I don't need it...

 

[NickCole]

Not to mention that WalMart has forced everybody else to lower their prices and/or rethink their marketing strategy. Target wouldn't exist if it weren't for WalMart. And you'd be paying a hell of a lot more at Sears/K-Mart and JCPenney.

On what do you base that assertion?

Both Target and Wal-Mart first opened in 1962, although both were new discount stores opened by established retailers. The folks at the Dayton Company had the same idea Sam Walton had. And Target was a huge success all along. In fact the trajectory of those two retailers is not dissimilar -- while Target was thriving in Minnesota, Wal-Mart was thriving in Arkansas. And, although I might be mistaken, I think Target went national first.

Wal-Mart has, indeed, impacted the marketing strategy of other discount retailers, sometimes in good ways and sometimes bad. But it really isn't true that Target, or discount merchandise chains in general, wouldn't exist without Wal-Mart. While Sam Walton did introduce new elements to retailing (like check-out counters being located near the exit rather than throughout the store), he didn't invent the discount merchandising business -- the five and dime existed long before he went into business. And Woolworth's, a hugely successful chain selling discount merchandise before Walton was born and the real parent of the concept, was famous for undercutting the prices of local businesses.

 

[gsdx]

“It’s a real shame, and I think people who value traditional marriage and the Biblical model of human sexuality should sit up and take notice of Wal-Mart’s recent support of radical pro-homosexual/anti-Christian groups and policies that seek to destroy the time-honored institutions of marriage and family, and further aim to silence proponents of traditional family values,” said Barber.

I don't understand why these two 'groups' must be mutually exclusive. That is saying that homosexuals are not Christian and Christians are not homosexual. That is not true.

I do not attend church, and haven't done so in many years, mainly because of the hypocracy I have encountered within the Church. Still, I live my life according to the basic Christian ideals. I can do that without going to a church. That doesn't make me any less Christian and, in fact, makes me even more Christian than many of the fundamentalists. I do not spout hatred at every turn. I do not insist that 'my way' is the 'only way', and I certainly don't insist that it is also 'God's way'.

 

[slobone]

On what do you base that assertion?

Both Target and Wal-Mart first opened in 1962, although both were new discount stores opened by established retailers. The folks at the Dayton Company had the same idea Sam Walton had. And Target was a huge success all along. In fact the trajectory of those two retailers is not dissimilar -- while Target was thriving in Minnesota, Wal-Mart was thriving in Arkansas. And, although I might be mistaken, I think Target went national first.

Wal-Mart has, indeed, impacted the marketing strategy of other discount retailers, sometimes in good ways and sometimes bad. But it really isn't true that Target, or discount merchandise chains in general, wouldn't exist without Wal-Mart. While Sam Walton did introduce new elements to retailing (like check-out counters being located near the exit rather than throughout the store), he didn't invent the discount merchandising business -- the five and dime existed long before he went into business. And Woolworth's, a hugely successful chain selling discount merchandise before Walton was born and the real parent of the concept, was famous for undercutting the prices of local businesses.

By "exist" I really meant "exist in its present form." I think its current success is due partly to those parts of the WalMart business model it copied, and partly to the way it has shrewdly differentiated itself from WalMart -- much better design at slightly higher prices. I think without the stimulus of competition from WalMart it would never have found just that niche. Everybody in retailing now defines themselves in relation to WalMart, until maybe you get up to the Nordstrom's and Nieman Marcus's.

Sam Walton did two very smart things. First, he put his stores into small towns that other retailers had written off, thus giving himself a solid base from which to expand into larger markets. Second, he maintained rigid quality control of every aspect of the store, from purchasing to layout, stocking, lighting, customer service, etc. Target wasn't interested in the first of these ideas, but it has definitely benefitted from the example of the second one.

Incidentally, I think Target has been a little slow to move beyond some ideas that are starting to seem a little stale, particularly the focus on big name designers. You can only buy so many Michael Graves teapots and Isaac Mizrahi sheets before you get tired of them. I predict Sears is going to run into the same problem with Martha Stewart.